Severus Snape is tired of the lies. (fortiscadere) wrote in blurred_lines, @ 2009-05-30 21:51:00 |
|
|||
Promotion to the Inner Circle had only reminded Severus of how much he had left to learn. It was perhaps the equivalent of every time he had met with the late Albus Dumbledore to practise Occlumency. Despite the fact that he studied and read nearly every moment he was not devoting to his work at the Ministry, or his studies of potions for his Master title, there were so many areas of magic that he knew he only understood the merest bit of. And beyond all of that was the fact that he knew there were those within the Inner Circle, and even some within the outer circle that could best him. He might be a bloody genius at potions, but that was not good enough. Bellatrix Lestrange had seemed more than willing to assist him with his practise, and he had decided to take her up on that enthusiasm. He wanted to be better. The experience with Dearborn had taught him that he was only just good enough. If he was to survive this war, live to see children with Agatha at some day in some world that would hopefully be more kind to half blood witches and wizards, he needed to be better than 'good enough'. He needed to be perfect. The sort of wizard who could have gone up against Gellert Grindlewald as Albus Dumbledore had done and survive to tell the tale. He needed perhaps to be even better than that sort of wizard. After all, Dumbledore had not lived to tell of his duel with the Dark Lord, and Severus faced him daily. Should it come down to it... He grimly pressed his lips together and Apparated to the Lestrange estates, making his way through the gates and up to the door where he told the servant he was there to see Bellatrix Lestrange. He was expected, they said, and pointed him in the proper direction. If Bellatrix was more honest with herself, she could admit to some degree of anxiety in meeting Snape for a Duelling lesson. She was sure of her ability, she was doubly sure of her ability to far outstrip any man, but her latent memory loss was a continual drag on her senses. Her history with Snape was known to her and she recalled a certain fondness for the Halfblood that seemed to defy his heritage due to his inherent magical talent and perpetual usefulness. So when the servant informed her of Snape’s arrival, she nodded and took her place perched on the edge of a grand piano that was backed up into the corner of the ballroom. She typically preferred to duel outdoors, in the open, but found that varying up the terrain (and since she didn’t remember what she had done previously beyond what little she could be told, she decided that doing something she wouldn’t do ) advisable. A brief smile for greeting as her wand, twirling between her fingers, gave off showers of silver sparks. She might have been showing off just a little bit. But she didn’t care. Snape needed a reminder that despite his new promotion, she was better. She would always be better. Severus entered the room and gave Bellatrix a nod. He had a very high level of respect for the woman whom was, in his opinion, easily one of the strongest of the Dark Lord's servants. There might be many in the Inner Circle, but she might have surpassed some of them in calibre. This meant that certainly she was someone to give proper respect to. As he walked in, he pulled out his own wand, enjoying the feel of the wood in his hand. The last few weeks had felt somewhat awkward to him as he was carefully testing the waters of what he was allowed to do and not allowed to do and what those in the Inner Circle would expect of him now that he was a member (albeit the youngest and newer member) of the Dark Lord's most trusted. This would be yet another example of such. "Good afternoon, Mrs Lestrange," he said respectfully. Despite being one of the most trusted of the Dark Lord's warriors, he couldn't quite wrap his head around the idea of calling any of the rest of the Inner Circle by their first names unless invited to do so. As he had not yet been, so he would not actually do so. And even if he had been invited to do so, he thought it would be an odd feeling. "I do appreciate your willingness to help me improve my skills. I do not wish to make the same mistakes I made at the battle at the beginning of the month." "Perhaps, then, we should begin by going over them -- " she said, considering the formal way in which Severus stood and addressed her, wondering if he would do the same were he pureblooded. "What were your mistakes, Severus, and what did they cost you?" With a wry look, Severus raised his left hand up, displaying the two fingers shaved off just at the knuckle. The slight limp that he seemed unable to completely shed was more obvious, he thought, and not worth repeating or mentioning. "Not to mention nearly a week at St Mungo's and longer on bed rest if one counts the time that I was supposed to stay still when I returned home. The mistakes-" This was a bit harder, he thought, and he stood for a moment considering the battle in his mind. He placed to the side the emotions that it inevitably stirred up in him and analysed the entire thing. Perhaps the largest mistake had been that he had underestimated his opponent. He could hardly tell Bellatrix that he had been aiming not to kill the man but to remove him from battle, but even had he been aiming to kill the man it could easily be said that he had underestimated him. He had so frequently gone up against the untrained of the Order, that this had been much more complicated. "I allowed him to get the advantage," Severus said finally. "By expecting him to be less skilled than he turned out to be, I ended up having to fight much harder to regain the higher ground. I think also that I am not creative enough. I've learned some wordless magic, but I would like to learn more, I think. Specifically as it would be useful to me in a duelling scenario." He was open and blunt with his criticism of himself, knowing that she would appreciate that evaluation. "The curses that I know are strong, and my aim is generally sound, but neither of those things on their own will be enough." " ... what spells did he use?" she asked, taking in the permanent record of Snape's duel with his adversary with a mere nod. He would remember the lesson at the end of the other's wand, at least. And perhaps it would perpetually serve to remind him that he had to be on his toes? She could only hope. "There was one with fire," Severus said quickly. He'd been uncertain what that even was - not fiendfyre, but not incendio either. "Like a fire whip," he added more descriptively. "Basting spells - several of them actually. He also utilized items around him better than I did, I had a twig enlarged to the size of a javelin that ended up through my side." That had been bloody painful, he recalled almost irritably. He thought for an instant to see if he had forgotten anything huge. As best he could remember those had been the major spells - well, and there had been the incident of Dearborn's fist in his face, but that was less magical and more Muggle, and that Severus could deal with - particularly if he had a wand in his hand. Leaning forward as Severus spoke, Bellatrix listened to him relate the details of the encounter with her wand gripped loose in her palm. Wordless magic, hmm? Blasting curses? She was rather impressed with the fire magic and the javelin, though her concentration centred on one thing -- the blasting curse -- though her wand remained at her side and she was silent -- straight at his chest. Severus had his eyes on her knowing that Bellatrix's style frequently involved her attacking in such a way that would cause him to be caught off guard and off balanced. However, he hadn't quite counted on her doing so without any sign whatsoever that she was going to do so. The blasting curse hit him straight on, knocking him off of his feet and sliding him backward rather forcefully until he slammed against the wall behind him with a resounding thud. The shield charm he cast next was almost second nature - something to give him a moment or two of stunned silence so that he could recover without the threat of a follow-up curse. He tested his shoulders, moving everything a bit slowly as he looked back up at Bellatrix his eyes rather guarded. He'd seen nothing of what she was going to do, and he wondered if he'd been testing her mind if he could have seen it - but she was an occlumens so likely not. He climbed to his feet, ignoring the protest in his hips as he did so and wondering if he should have waited yet another week before actually jumping back into duelling - but no, he'd been given the clearance from his healer. "I want to be able to do that," he said calmly, his determination apparent in his voice. A blasting curse without a wand or words, that would be hellishly tricky, he thought, his eyes narrowing in concentration as he gripped his wand more tightly and moved back towards her, focusing his thought on the wand and the blasting curse, and without saying anything, he tried to move his wand with the curse pointed straight back at her. It was weak, he thought, and the motion would alert her to the fact that he was trying it. Jumping lithely from the piano, her wand slashed through the air and the curse sizzled out, a wounded and dying thing that landed at her feet. Her mouth quirked -- "Then you're going to have to do much better than that, Severus." Pausing mere inches from him, she reared a fist back and sent it hurtling toward his face. "You're going to have to mean it!" It could not be said that Severus was not a quick learner. While he was frequently surprised by purists that got physical, he well remembered the fact that Bellatrix had done so during their training session. Thus, as she moved towards him, he was prepared for that attack, moving quickly enough to avoid the worst of her fist and just as quickly raising his wand at her, a silent tripping jinx he could do very well and so he did, following it with an second attempt at the blasting curse silently this time throwing a great deal more focus and desire into the curse. And though, because of the punch, Bellatrix couldn't block the tripping jinx, she was able to block the silent blasting curse that followed. As the spell rippled around the outer edges of her shield, she rose and nodded. "Better." The wand, pinioned in her grasp, gave a minute twitch and she focused a silent Cruciatus at his chest, waiting to see if he could block if - if he could block it silently - or if he could be again bowled over. The movement was enough to alert Severus that she was going to do something, and although he had no doubt that she wanted him to block it silently, the automatic response was a protego that was not as silent as he would have liked for it to have been. Frustrated with himself, perhaps even more than she would have been frustrated at him, he poured all of his energy back into the focus of a silent blasting curse which he shot just back at her, more focused than before as all of the frustration and anger at himself not being able to block silently flowed into the curse. Let her see if she could block that, he thought angrily. He was determined to get her at her own game at some point before the training session was up. Bellatrix was, however, in keen observation of her opponent and dove out of the way at the appropriate time to miss the curse that instead barrelled into the piano, shattering the instrument in a haze of ivory dust and splintering wood. Though she was always loathe to give any sort of encouragement to her students, she sprang back to a standing position and nodded. It was as close to Good as he was going to get. "I think that's enough for today." Severus blinked showing an instant more surprise than he would have preferred to give to her. And yet, almost before he'd recovered from that was a momentary sense of pride that the instrument, which had certainly born the brunt of his anger, had completely exploded. That had to be a reasonably strong spell, he thought, and the magic had been focused in such a way that he thought he could remember that - perhaps repeat it next time around. He didn't drop his wand from it's duelling position immediately, because he knew better than to give her the opportunity to get the best of him. This was Bellatrix Lestrange after all. "Very well," he said. After all, he had a wedding in a week and didn't particularly fancy being injured so much in practise that he'd not be able to attend this one either. If Bellatrix didn't kill him, Agatha might. |